Tony O’Neill, gardener and author of the popular “Composting Masterclass” and “Your First Vegetable Garden,” combines lifelong passion and expert knowledge to simplify the art of gardening. His mission? Helping you cultivate a thriving garden.
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Growing fruit and vegetables in your garden are what most city folks call a simple and relaxed life.
Turning any garden patch into a luscious healthy vegetable plot reaps many benefits, like saving you money, providing a healthy eating source, giving you exercise by digging, helping reduce stress, and improving body function.
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Growing a vegetable garden is easier than it looks, plus you get the reward when you produce something yourself, and it tastes fantastic.
If you have a garden and want to know how to convert it into a veg patch, then stay with us. We will explain why you should start turning your green into a kingdom of vegetables and live a healthier lifestyle.
All you need is various seeds, a shovel, a hand spade, and some secateurs!
Growing Vegetables, Living Healthier Lives!
The great thing about growing home-produced veggies and plants is that anyone can do it as it is not rocket science, and you do not need a degree in gardening.
The main tips for beginners are:
- Start small and find the seeds of the veggies you like to eat.
- Grow veg in contaminate-free soil; this helps for better-tasting produce.
- Find a space in your garden where it gets more rays of sunlight (around 6 hours)
- The veggie plot must have access to water to help them grow.
The rules are straightforward: ensure the veggies are well fed with water and nutrients from the soil, have plenty of sunlight to make them grow bigger and tastier, and keep them free from weeds and insects.
Talk to a local-friendly gardener to know which veggies grow well in your area. Nearly all veg growers love talking about how-to-grow veg properly and will be glad to give you tips and knowledge on what grows well.
Add beautiful plants like roses, daffodils, orchids, eucalyptus, Palmeiras, and bonsai trees to add more color to your garden. Kaizen Bonsai has a wide selection of bonsai to choose from.
Get your daily dose of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, and start feeling healthier. By gardening, you are actively improving cardiac health, the immune system, flexibility, and body strength, and gardening is proven to decrease heart rate and stress.
After weeks of nurturing your veggies, you will start to feel more positive and become more energetic just by getting outside for some fresh air to tend to your garden.
Health & Nutrition Go Hand in Hand with Growing Veg!
The benefits outweigh the cons of gardening tenfold, and you will understand this as soon as you start growing your veggies and plants.
Dramatic Overall-Health Improvements!
Undoubtedly, eating and taking care of home-produced veg will significantly improve your overall health and body function.
Gardening involves getting your hands dirty and bending down, turning, and crouching. Doing this regularly helps increase body flexibility and your immune system.
While gardening, you also enjoy the sunshine, which is good for the bones to absorb vitamin D.
Save loads of money!
Forget going to the supermarket to buy your potatoes, carrots, and cabbage. If my weekly veg shopping is anything to go off, you will probably save anything from £10-£20 a week just on fresh veggies.
Plus, you can have it when you need it, rather than buying lots of veggies and herbs all at once. Bulk-buying veggies increase the chance that some of them will go bad before you even use them.
With homegrown veggies and herbs, you pick them when they’re needed, meaning NO wastage and NO last-minute shopping. Just savings and flavorsome vegetables!
Life would be a lot simpler and organic.
Growing organic food keeps your diet diverse and healthy. The natural vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants the homegrown food contains are the tastiest and most beneficial ways to enjoy it.
The loss of nutritional value from packaged food for lengthy periods in the supermarkets is why all veg growers never return to buying packaged veggies.
Nothing is more satisfying than growing something you enjoy eating and then eating it with immense pleasure and satisfaction.
Reduced Cortisol “Stress” and Dig the Garden
Stress is a common word we use and a feeling we have more frequently than not in a standard working week. With the pressures of being an adult and living in this CRAZY world to make a successful living, it is no wonder we all look for alternative ways to reduce stress and mental health.
The answer is gardening. It reduces stress, anxiety, depression, heart disease, and diabetes.
Watering that veggie patch and digging up those weeds for an hour or so will remove any pressing concerns in your mind, leaving you to become stress-free and healthier in no time.
‘To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow’
Audrey Hepburn
Gardening burns a lot of calories.
Gardening is an excellent physical work-out. Weeding involves getting down and up frequently; raking involves moving your hips and body; digging helps your joints. It is a full-body workout after a good hour or so of gardening.
In one session, you could burn as many as 500 calories. It is now easier than ever before to lose weight and be healthy at the same time without spending money on gym memberships and supermarket veggies.
The short table below will show you how many calories you could burn while gardening.
| Task | Calories |
| Digging the ground | 400 – 450 Cal |
| Raking leaves | 200 – 250 Cal |
| Planting crops | 200 – 250 Cal |
| Watering | 150 – 200 Cal |
| Harvesting | 150 – 450 Cal |
| Clearing and Preparing the Land | 450 – 500 Cal |
Bring a Sense of Community, like a Community Garden
A beautiful garden with lots of vegetables and plants does wonders for the community. A community garden helps people connect and be more involved with the place they live in.
It gives people who don’t have a garden the chance to be gardeners and help the community produce fresh fruits and veggies.
There are many benefits of having a community garden:
- Keep a cleaner environment by adding oxygen to the air, which reduces air pollution.
- Composting helps create natural fertilizer from fallen leaves and tree trimmings.
- Sharing a garden helps neighbors connect and prevent potential crimes in the area.
- A community garden is a good way for children to understand where fresh vegetables come from and educate them on environmental issues.
- A beautifully grown community garden makes the neighborhood look greener and increases property value in the area.
- Provide or donate organic food to people who cannot afford it.
- It’s a place for people who suffer from stress and mental illness to unwind.
Food Becomes Tastier
The organic taste is out-of-this-world compared to some supermarket-bought vegetables. Making a salad is tasteless when using tomatoes, cucumber, onion, and some lettuce from local supermarkets.
Growing these vegetables in your garden will make you want to have salads more often, as the juicy flavors and vibrant colors create super-delicious dishes.
Struggling with kids not eating their veggies???
Get them in the garden with you to enjoy the benefits of growing something, and they will eat what they are growing. Kids are more likely to eat their veggies if they see them grow by working side-by-side with their parents.
Reduce Climate Change
Climate change is among us, and with our help, we can reduce it by harvesting our fruit and veg.
Growing your food will prevent fossil fuels from entering the air from vehicles. If everyone started to develop their veg or buy food from local farmers, it would reduce the need for transporting food for long distances.
The environment will not benefit from fossil fuels and unwanted chemicals and pesticides going into the ground, which mass producers use, that harm the environment.
Why Not Start a Vegetable Garden today?
Grab your shovel, put your gardening clothes on, and start digging.
Save your hard-earned money by turning your garden into a vegetable plot. You will be surprised at how much money you will save growing your food. In one year, you could save as much as £1000.
Your food will be fresh, organic, and full of flavor. Making any dish taste better!
Become a better, healthier you. Get your hands dirty in the garden to help you lose weight, get fitter, reduce stress levels, and boost the immune system.
Starting a vegetable garden is the first step to a healthier lifestyle. It may take a few months before the vegetables are ready to eat, but you will become healthier by caring for them and breathing in the fresh air.
Start your garden today for a greener environment and tastier food. It’s well worth it!
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Conclusion
There are many benefits to our well-being, health, and overall life from turning that lawn into a productive vegetable garden. What are you waiting for? Go and get started now. I assure you that you will not be disappointed.
